User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
This is a real beautiful, sentimental, tear jerking, refreshing, motivational, friendship, sisterhood story! Bring out your napkins and prepare yourself cry and laugh at the same time because this book will conquer your hearts and steals a crucial part of it!
Eliza struggles with being middle aged. Her children already left the house. She needs a purpose, special aim, an anchor to achieve something concrete in her life. She loves writing about parenting at Hudson Valley Ladies Bulletin Board. She has been doing it for 15 years. But her page hasn’t been refreshed for a long time and other parenting forums threaten the only thing she enjoys! She already suffers from empty nest syndrome and agoraphobia! She has to keep her mind at ease.
She needs an inspiration to share with the community. Maybe a little cheating can create some spark! What about posting a rumor! Nobody can hurt because it is not even a small town gossip. She will just make something up and share it. That’s it! No harm done. She has no idea what she’s igniting and what kind of havoc she’s getting herself into! Because Olivia York from the other side of the town is not happy about what she just read. We’re also introduced Allison who fancies virtual friendship and Amanda is the long time best friend of Eliza. And we witness how those amazing women’s stories intercept.
It’s impossible not to love and feel for Eliza who tries so hard to brighten her life and find her new purposes as she deals with real problems. It’s so heartfelt and well written book about mental health, marriage, importance of forming real friendships to support each other, mother-daughter relations. It’s funny, entertaining, joyful journey!
This book is another literature medicine to heal our souls and emotional scars. I highly recommend you to read for feeling good, positive and hopeful again! It’s a real stress killer, mood brighter!
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this meaningfully poignant ARC with me in exchange my honest review.
Rating: really liked it
This one surprised me in a good way!Hello, gorgeous purple cover!
Eliza founded The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board when she was a young mom. Now, the nest is empty, and she’s been diagnosed with agoraphobia. As you can imagine, the bulletin board gives Eliza an important outlet now.
Except there’s a new parent forum in town, and it threatens Eliza’s site.
So does Eliza do? She starts a rumor about the new site.
Eliza Starts a Rumor surprised me. It has plenty of emotion and depth, and I loved the sisterhood between the women. There’s also some charming humor interspersed throughout and the different points of view.
Overall, Eliza Starts a Rumor is a genuine-feeling story about the strength and resiliency of women, especially when we come together to support one another. It’s like a warm hug from your girlfriends after a lingering lunch.
I received a gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
Rating: really liked it
Looking for a light, dishy read, I picked this up on the strength of her previous, Nine Women, One Dress, a frothy book of interconnected stories. I wanted a little candy and ended up with a piñata of plotlines.
√ #metoomovement
√ Infidelity
√ Single parenthood
√ Agoraphobia
√ Buried trauma
√ Social networks
√ City vs. Suburbia
√ Middle-aged Women vs. Millennial Mommies
I think this book also suffers from an identity crisis. It seemed to aspire to humor, though I didn’t find it, but also wanted to be topical and address rather serious subjects. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this is another book that promised one thing and delivered another.
I should have put this aside when it failed on the humor front, but two other recent ones met that fate and I wanted to see one through. I’ve bumped up from 2.5 because not once did I want to fling this across the room and I was curious enough to finish.
Rating: really liked it
Absolutely adored this one. So charming, beautifully written, fun, and relatable. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Laura Hankin.
Rating: really liked it
My Rating:
4.5
Favorite Quotes:
There was no way Eliza’s polished, stick-thin mother, with her shiny golden hair, would have admitted that her daughter, who did not receive her skinny gene or her shiny gene, had only inherited her crazy gene.
The only thing worse than being cheated on was being made a fool of, and if that was what was going on, she would take him down.
She assumed that those first accusations against Carson were only the tip of the iceberg. Her gut told her that her husband would be going down like the Titanic, and like on the Titanic, all women and children belonged in lifeboats.
I am a twenty-eight-year-old feminist woman intent on raising a feminist daughter. We are just starting out on this journey together. There are no circumstances that would make me suck it up.”
“Do you want a protein shake?” “If by protein you mean tequila, then yes.”
“Alison could defend me. Temporary insanity.” “One can only hope it’s temporary,”
My Review:
This was a highly amusing yet thoughtfully written, perennially relevant, timely, engaging, and cleverly paced tale with multiple story threads that tangled and converged into a smoothly woven unit. The large cast of characters was diverse, endearing, deeply flawed, and interestingly quirky while dealing with humorous and curious conundrums as well as common and uncommon issues. There were a few mysteries to solve and personal and professional snooping was required to mete out the appropriate justice to make most things right in the end. And it all started with an impulsively spread yet titillating and synergetic rumor that had been posted in haste in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.
Rating: really liked it
What started out as a story about
lies and secrets, turned out to be a great story about
friendship and empowerment.
Eliza has been crippled by agoraphobia since high school. She's now a mother of twins in college, and struggles to stay connected to the outside world. She created the Hudson Valley Ladies' Bulletin Board years ago when her twins were young. It's an online forum for ladies to offer support to each other, and now the only way she stays connected with her community.
When Eliza becomes worried a rival online forum will make hers obsolete, she decides the best way to save it is to start a rumor. She quickly posts an anonymous rumor, expecting to simply generate more interest in her forum. Instead, it turns up issues and suspicions for people in the community.
The story is told from the POV of various characters. The main ones are Eliza, Olivia, Alison, and Amanda. I really enjoyed following their journey and friendship.
This is a witty, heartwarming, and thought-provoking story. While it's overall a fun story, it also addresses serious and relevant themes. I like the full circle ending because it brought closure to the issues and problems that were addressed throughout.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 Stars
I think I might have read this one wrong, but . . . .
I have an
infinite number of neighborhood drama llama types of stories both in my Read pile as well as my TBR because . . . .
Sometimes they have heavy issues (like this one), sometimes not so heavy, sometimes someone gets stabbed or otherwise made dead, sometimes they wind up with HEA. I read them all. But since I read them all, there are some that simply shine like beacons in the recesses of my brain and those ones don’t allow me to always enjoy others. I think that was the case here.
So the story goes that Eliza has been running a neighborhood forum where women can ask advice on pretty much anything. When she runs into a couple of gals talking about some apparent competition to her site who then also point out . . . .
It makes Eliza feel like a real boomer and she decides to spice up the original board by creating a fictitious post about a supposed extramarital affair going on in the ‘hood. And then the shit sort of hits the fan, eleventy characters get introduced and you hear about all of their problems.
I really think my wrongreading with this was due to combination of some level of stupidity/naiveté with several of the characters (in particular the supposed high power Manhattan attorney who never thinks twice about getting her baby daddy to sign off on his parental rights or come to some sort of written agreement regarding the child whatsoever and the husband who doesn’t know his wife has pretty much not left the house in months) and that when the comparison is made to
Big Little Lies I expect a little bit of humor – even if serious subjects are being tackled. Blame it on Lianne Moriarty and Abbi Waxman that I just can’t enjoy all the things. They ruined me ; )
Rating: really liked it
Really enjoyed!! It was easy to get into and easy to pick up. The story was lighthearted at the beginning but developed some stronger themes towards the end (infidelity and rape). I think this would be a super fun book club book with lots of discussion points!!
Rating: really liked it
Ebook giveaway from Goodreads
What do bored housewives do in suburban New York?
In a change from recent books, I started off bored but began to grow more interested at the end.
Eliza - Runs an online community board. A younger, hipper board is out, so she starts a rumor that someone is cheating. Chaos ensues.
Allison - Always nice to see some Vietnamese American rep, especially when racism isn't directly involved. Has a baby with a guy she has been regularly sleeping with. They're not together. It's fine, until he wants nothing to do with her or the baby after she tells him. Oh, but wait, he does. But only after he's running for mayor and his political team tells him it's bad press. A real winner.
Jackie - Don't be fooled by the name. Jackie is a man. His teenage daughter gets her period, so he posts on the community board as her mom, to get advice. The amount of people that think tampons lead to sex. I can't. I won't. I'm done. In posting as a woman, he gets a few messages from "well meaning" moms. I still can't. He and Allison eventually begin messaging each other. When he meets her irl he introduces himself as Jack. You can imagine the shitshow that ensues when she finds out her online "friend" is the guy she's been seeing.
Olivia - I was going to say "the" woman being cheated on, but people are trash, so let's say "a." She has just had a baby and is suspicious because her husband is no longer interested in sleeping with her. Eliza's post blows her life into a whirlwind.
I don't think slice of life novels are quite my jam, but it's always nice to read something outside my norm. I don't do that enough.
Rating: really liked it
A very nice novel about female friendship. If you are tired of reading about mean girls and what to read something meaningful that will make you feel empowered, this book is for you.
www.theleisurediaries.blogspot.com
Rating: really liked it
What a ride! I had never heard of Jan L. Rosen before I received this book in a goodreads giveaway. When I tell you that I ate and slept with this book! This book is a book of sisterhood, secrets, betrayals and triumph. The stories of Eliza, Amanda, Olivia and Alison will cause you to celebrate the wonderful gift of sisterhood. The book also deals with agoraphobia and PTSD. It is light and dark.This book will sit with me for a minute as I navigate its greater meaning in my life and the meaning of my sisterhood to me. Wow, just wow.
Rating: really liked it
Eliza Starts a Rumor
By Jane L Rosen
Eliza Starts A Rumor is a beautiful, heart warming and engaging story about how an innocent rumor that is started permeates through the entire town of Hudson Valley and the snowball effect it started. This story was full of depth and serious topics though very hopeful and uplifting story about community and friendship. In such a simple premise, Jane Rosen delivered quite a powerful punch in delivering characters that are so well written, dialogue that flows well and the relationships between each of the women were fantastic. I loved reading this and getting lost in the story. Rosen is a master storyteller and this was incredible.
Everyone, read this book! I highly recommend it.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars rounded up
This is an ultimately touching and empowering book. So many heartfelt moments that brought me to tears.
One quibble is that there's quite a bit of head hopping and jarring POV changes, even from one paragraph to the next. It made it difficult to follow with changes in tense and going from an omniscient POV to a limited one and back again quickly.
Other than that, I warmed to all of the women characters and appreciated insights into each of their lives and histories. I thought Olivia's story was particularly meaningful, and of course Eliza's was as well. I loved the idea of the message board/Facebook group, it made the entire story relatable. There is a great deal of meaning focusing on many different aspects of #metoo and #timesup It doesn't look the same for everyone, but this book gives a face behind the stories to see that it can affect all types of people.
Glad I read this one!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
Rating: really liked it
Four women. One on-line forum. Jane L. Rosen has a gift for storytelling. This one packs a more serious punch than "Nine Women, One Dress," yet is still filled with engaging characters and relatable story lines. While dealing with #metoo issues and infidelity, there is a sisterhood that triumphs between two brand-new moms and two high school BFFs with teenagers. It is also refreshing to have a number of good men in the cast of characters of different generations. This will be a wonderful book for book groups giving them a plethora of issues to discuss: #metoo, trauma, parenting, marriage, social media, and even Shakespeare's relevance in modern culture. Highly recommended!
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
This book is not what I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be a light, funny book about a woman who accidentally starts a rumor. It started out ok, though reading about Eliza’s anxiety gave me anxiety. Then it just got to serious with people cheating and talk of rape. I was not expecting that. I just wanted a light fun read. It is a quick read, but there are to many characters. I kept getting them mixed up.
